The present invention relates to a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner, and more particularly to a structure relating to a decorative panel to be detachably mounted to the air conditioner main body.
FIGS. 8 and 9 show a decorative panel portion of a conventional ceiling embedded-type air conditioner. In these figures, a reference numeral 100 denotes the main body (hereinafter, may be referred to as air conditioner main body) of the ceiling embedded-type air conditioner, and 110, a decorative panel. The decorative panel 110 has a square air suction port 111 in the central portion, and rectangular air blow-off ports 112 in the outside of each side of the air suction port 111 respectively.
In the air suction port 111, there are disposed a suction grille 113 and an air filter element 114, and a vane 115 is pivotally mounted to the air blow-off port 112.
The air blow-off port 112 is demarcated substantially over the entire surface by a frame-shaped air guide member 116 made of a foaming resin molded part fitted in and mounted to the decorative panel 110. The air guide member 116 constitutes the entire contour of the air blow-off port 112 on the air conditioner main body connection side, and serves as a pedestal of sealing material 117 interposed between the air conditioner main body 100 and the air guide member 116.
The decorative panel 110 is integrally formed with mounting piece portions 119, each of which has a screw-through hole 118, at four corners of the air suction port 111, and is fixed to the air conditioner main body 100 with mounting screws 120 passed through the screw-through holes 118.
As another conventional example of ceiling embedded-type air conditioner, there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-324769. FIGS. 10 and 11 show a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-324769. In this respect, in FIGS. 10 and 11, the same or equivalent components as those shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 are represented by the same reference numerals as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, and description thereof will be omitted.
In this ceiling embedded-type air conditioner, a triangular opening 121 each is formed at the four corners of the decorative panel 110 in such a manner as to be able to adjust the suspension height of the air conditioner main body 100 by means of the opening 121 while the decorative panel 110 is mounted to the air conditioner main body 100.
The opening 121 is configured so as to be covered with a decorative lid (corner panel) 122 to be detachably mounted to the decorative panel 110. This decorative lid 122 is mounted by catching a hook-shaped engaging piece 123 obtained by integrally molding with the decorative lid 122 on an engaging hole 124 engaged with the decorative panel 110 to cause a permanent magnet piece 125 mounted to the decorative lid 122 to be magnetically attracted to a metallic plate 126 mounted to the decorative panel 110.
In such a conventional ceiling embedded-type air conditioner as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, a member forming the air course (air blow-off port 112) of the decorative panel is an air guide member 116 consisting of a plastic molded portion of the decorative panel 110 and an air guide member 116 made of a wide range of forming resin material. Therefore, a difference in coefficient of linear expansion of these dissimilar materials causes slippage between the plastic portion (decorative panel 110) and the foaming resin portion (air guide member 116), and squeaks are prone to occur.
Since a fixing portion between the decorative panel 110 and the air conditioner main body 100 is located within the air suction port 111, it is difficult to improve the durability due to crazing destruction on the mounting piece portion 119 particularly in a severe usage environment in which lamp black and the like are sucked in.
In the conventional ceiling embedded-type air conditioner, since the structure is arranged so that the vane, a motor for driving it and the like are mounted from the non-design surface side of the decorative panel, the decorative panel must be removed from the air conditioner main body each time during servicing such as replacement of those components, and is inferior in service workability.
During an emergency operation because of drainage pump trouble, a marketing hose is connected to a natural drainage formed in the drainage pan of the air conditioner main body for cooling operation. Since, however, the position of the natural drainage port is located in the air suction port in the conventional ceiling embedded-type air conditioner, there is no alternative but to operate in a state in which the suction grille is opened during this emergency operation, and the operation is performed in a state in which indoor dust particles and the like are not removed by the filter element in the air suction port. Thus, trouble due to clogging in the heat exchanger of the air conditioner main body is prone to occur.
In the conventional ceiling embedded-type air conditioner, the decorative panel and the drainage pan must be removed from the air conditioner main body in order to sweep the suction port of the drainage pump and the drainage pan, and the air conditioner is inferior in sweeping workability.
In a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-324769, since the decorative lid is mounted by means of the claw engagement and a magnet, the mounting strength of the decorative lid is somewhat improved, and it becomes difficult to cause rattling vibration in the decorative lid. In order to obtain sufficient performance, the magnetic strength of the permanent magnet piece 125 must be made substantially great, or any large permanent magnet piece 125 must be used.
In the conventional ceiling embedded-type air conditioner, when the air conditioner main body is installed at an installation height higher than a recommended height or the ceiling material becomes deformed, a gap occurs between the ceiling material and any corner portion of the decorative panel, and this gap causes dewing on the design surface of the decorative panel because of a temperature difference between within the ceiling and indoors, and the air conditioner also looks worse.
The present invention has been achieved in order to solve the above described problems, and its object is to provide a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner without causing any squeaks, excellent in durability in installing the decorative panel and corner panels, in service workability in the vane and motor for driving the vane, and in workability in sweeping the suction port for the drainage pump and drainage pan, capable of performing an emergency operation without adversely affecting the air conditioner main body side, and eliminating any gaps between the ceiling material and any of corners of the decorative panel even if the ceiling material becomes deformed.
In order to achieve the above described object, there is, according to the present invention, provided a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner, in which a decorative panel having an air suction port and air blow-off ports is detachably mounted onto the air conditioner main body, in which three sides of a pedestal portion made of sealing material for sealing the outer circumference of a rectangular air blow-off port are configured by reinforcing ribs obtained by integrally molding with the decorative panel, and only one side of the pedestal portion is configured by an air guide member made of a foaming resin molded part.
A ceiling embedded-type air conditioner according to another aspect of the present invention has double-wall structure in which the reinforcing rib has an insulated space portion.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner in which a decorative panel having an air suction port and air blow-off ports is detachably mounted onto the air conditioner main body, in which the structure is arranged so that a vane bushing for pivotally supporting a vane which is provided at the air blow-off port in order to change the direction of a wind is mounted so as to be fitted in from the design surface side of the decorative panel, and that the vane and the motor for driving it are mounted from the design surface side of the decorative panel.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner in which a decorative panel having an air suction port and air blow-off ports is detachably mounted onto the air conditioner main body, in which an opening for a piping/wiring operation and a pedestal portion are formed in each of corner portions of the decorative panel, these portions are configured to be covered with a corner panel to be detachably mounted to the decorative panel, and a mounting portion between the decorative panel and the air conditioner main body is arranged on the pedestal portion.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner, in which on a corner portion to be covered with the corner panel, there is provided a screw-through hole for screwing the decorative panel to the ceiling material.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner in which a decorative panel having an air suction port and air blow-off ports is detachably mounted onto the air conditioner main body, in which an opening for a piping/wiring operation is formed in each of corner portions of the decorative panel, this portion is configured to be covered with a corner panel to be detachably mounted to the decorative panel, a suction grille for covering the air suction port is detachably mounted to the decorative panel, and the corner panel is fixed to the decorative panel in a mode in which an engaging piece, which is an integral part of the corner panel, engages with an engaging hole formed on the decorative panel, and an engaging claw, which is an integral part of the corner panel, is interposed between the suction grille and the decorative panel.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner in which a decorative panel having an air suction port and air blow-off ports is detachably mounted onto the air conditioner main body, in which an opening for a piping/wiring operation is formed in each of corner portions of the decorative panel, this portion is configured to be covered with a corner panel to be detachably mounted to the decorative panel, a natural drainage port to be formed in a drainage pan in the air conditioner main body is located at a position corresponding to each of corner portions of the decorative panel to be covered with the corner panels, and a hose-through hole is formed in the corner portion of the decorative panel to be covered with the corner panel, at a position which matches to the natural drainage port.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner, in which the drainage pan has a shelf portion one step higher than the bottom surface of the drainage pan, a natural drainage port is formed on the shelf portion, a sweeping hole is formed in the bottom surface of the drainage pan, and a sweep-working hole is formed in each of corner portions of the decorative panel to be covered with the corner panel, at a position which matches to the sweeping hole.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner, in which the sweep-working hole is provided right below the suction port of the drainage pump.
According to a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner of the present invention as understood from the foregoing description, three sides of the pedestal portion of sealing material for sealing the outer periphery of a rectangular air blow-off port are configured by reinforcing ribs obtained by integrally molding with the decorative panel, only one side of the pedestal portion is configured by an air guide member made of a foaming resin molded part. Therefore, the usage of dissimilar material (foaming resin material) can be reduced, there can be obtained such structure that it is difficult for squeaks caused by a difference in coefficient of linear expansion between plastic and foaming resin to be generated, and no squeaks are generated.
According to a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner of another aspect of the present invention, since the reinforcing rib has double-wall structure having an insulated space portion, a heat insulation effect can be obtained, and the power consumption can be reduced.
According to a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner of another aspect of the present invention, since the vane and a motor for driving it can be mounted from the design surface side of the decorative panel, only faulty components can be serviced without removing the decorative panel during servicing, and the workability and serviceability on mounting the vane and the motor for driving it can be enhanced.
According to a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner of another aspect of the present invention, since a portion for mounting the decorative panel to the air conditioner main body is arranged in the pedestal portion to be covered with the corner panel, this mounting portion is not exposed to convection of indoor air containing lamp black and air within the ceiling, but the mounting durability of the decorative panel is improved, and moreover the appearance is not deteriorated because the mounting portion is covered with the corner panel.
According to a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner of another aspect of the present invention, since the corner portion of the decorative panel can be screwed to the ceiling material by passing the set-screws through the screw-through holes in the corner portion to be covered with the corner panel, any gap between the ceiling material and the corner portion of the decorative panel can be eliminated, and dewing on the decorative panel on the design surface side is not caused. Moreover, since the screwed portion is covered with the corner panel, the appearance is not deteriorated.
According to a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner of another aspect of the present invention, the engaging piece, which is an integral part of the corner panel, engages with the engaging hole formed in the decorative panel, and the corner panel is fixed to the decorative panel in a mode in which the engaging claw, which is an integral part of the corner panel, is interposed between the suction grille and the decorative panel, and therefore, the corner panel does not come off the decorative panel unless the suction grille is disengaged, is excellent in mounting reliability, and the corner panel does not rattle either.
According to a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner of another aspect of the present invention, the natural drainage port formed in the drainage pan in the air conditioner main body is located at a position corresponding to the corner portion of the decorative panel to be covered with the corner panel, and a hose-through hose is formed in the corner portion of the decorative panel to be covered with the corner panel at a position matching to the natural drainage port. Therefore, an emergency operation when the drainage pump is out of order can be performed in a state in which the suction grille is closed, and the emergency operation can be performed without adversely affecting the air conditioner main body.
According to a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner of another aspect of the present invention, in a portion of the drainage pan, there is formed a natural drainage port on a shelf portion which is one step higher than the bottom surface of the drainage pan, a sweeping hole is formed in the bottom surface of the drainage pan, and a sweep-working hole is formed in the corner portion of the decorative panel to be covered with the corner panel at a position for matching to the sweeping hole. Therefore, the drainage pan can be swept without removing the decorative panel and the drainage pan.
According to a ceiling embedded-type air conditioner of another aspect of the present invention, since the sweep-working hole is provided at a position right below the suction port in the drainage pump, the drainage pump suction port can be swept without removing the decorative panel and the drainage pan.